Emily M.
5/28/08
May 27, 2008
I'm almost 2 months out and things are getting much better! I'm officially 1/2 way to my goal. I've lost 42.5 in total and have another 42.5 to go!
My pain has subsided. I'm not sure what the deal was. It was horrific there for a while and one morning I was trying to down my crushed medicines and started to heave and felt something on the left side pop. Since then- no pain!
The hardest thing I've found is if I wait to long to eat. If I let myself get too hungry by the time I actually eat I have a hard time stopping. It's like I go into "famish" overload. I'm trying to be conscious of that and eat when I first feel hungry even if it's just a cracker to tide me over so that my 1/4 cup of food is sufficient!
My pain has subsided. I'm not sure what the deal was. It was horrific there for a while and one morning I was trying to down my crushed medicines and started to heave and felt something on the left side pop. Since then- no pain!
The hardest thing I've found is if I wait to long to eat. If I let myself get too hungry by the time I actually eat I have a hard time stopping. It's like I go into "famish" overload. I'm trying to be conscious of that and eat when I first feel hungry even if it's just a cracker to tide me over so that my 1/4 cup of food is sufficient!
5-5-08
May 04, 2008
I'm almost a month out of surgery...and technically since surgery I'm only down 16lbs which is disappointing. However, I'd lost some prior to surgery. After talking on the chats today I think it may be because I'm not getting in enough protein. I'm really struggling with that because of all my allergies (anything with gills or feathers). I guess I'm going to have to get back on the protein drink kick. 
I've had significant pain on my left side since the surgery. Today I started heaving after I took my delicious crushed medicine and felt a "pop" on that side. Since then I haven't had the pain (knock on wood).
Last weekend I was in the hospital for excruciating pain on the right side. I thought for sure I had ruptured something....the folks at RMH ER were very thorough. They did an x-ray, ct scan, vaginal ultrasound and a vaginal exam....they think I had an ovarian cyst or an abscess in my fallopian tube. On follow up Dr. Long said that's sometimes common because the surgery causes your hormones to be out of wack and if I continue to have problems I may need to do a couple of months of birth control. The Monday after my ER trip was tough, I had horrible nausea...which Dr. Long said was probably from the fluid in the cyst. Since then things have been better, except for the left sided pain and apparent plateau.
It's very frustrating to eat such a tiny amount of food and not loose any weight. My husband doesn't understand....he thinks i'm being impatient...but this is a major surgery and I would expect the weight to come off sort of rapidly during the first month...to get stuck after only 15 pounds is pretty frustrating.
I've had significant pain on my left side since the surgery. Today I started heaving after I took my delicious crushed medicine and felt a "pop" on that side. Since then I haven't had the pain (knock on wood).
Last weekend I was in the hospital for excruciating pain on the right side. I thought for sure I had ruptured something....the folks at RMH ER were very thorough. They did an x-ray, ct scan, vaginal ultrasound and a vaginal exam....they think I had an ovarian cyst or an abscess in my fallopian tube. On follow up Dr. Long said that's sometimes common because the surgery causes your hormones to be out of wack and if I continue to have problems I may need to do a couple of months of birth control. The Monday after my ER trip was tough, I had horrible nausea...which Dr. Long said was probably from the fluid in the cyst. Since then things have been better, except for the left sided pain and apparent plateau.
It's very frustrating to eat such a tiny amount of food and not loose any weight. My husband doesn't understand....he thinks i'm being impatient...but this is a major surgery and I would expect the weight to come off sort of rapidly during the first month...to get stuck after only 15 pounds is pretty frustrating.
4-17-08
Apr 17, 2008
I'm not sure what's up with my page...my posts aren't showing up. Anyway...short update. Doing fairly well...I'm down 9.5 lbs since surgery. I thought I would loose a little faster in the beginning, but hey! It's 9lbs!
I'm struggling with knowing when and how much to eat. I'm wanting to eat a lot more than I probably should...I don't really get a "full" sensation so I'm having a hard time figuring out whether I'm eating an appropriate amount of food. I'm looking forward to my next MD appointment.
I'm struggling with knowing when and how much to eat. I'm wanting to eat a lot more than I probably should...I don't really get a "full" sensation so I'm having a hard time figuring out whether I'm eating an appropriate amount of food. I'm looking forward to my next MD appointment.
Made it through surgery!
Apr 10, 2008
Well I made it through the surgery and I'm home! I was actually released around 7 pm last night. I didn't have the most pleasant experience, I think part of it was anxiety and the other part was stress from the hospital itself. When I checked in, I had a low grade fever (100) and my BP and respirations were elevated! GREAT...then the nurse had to redo my patient data base that was done at presurgical testing because mine was "blank". So...I made it through surgery by 11am. Dr. Long called and updated my family. That's when the real fun began. I was moved to recovery, which is a fairly large room with beds circling a central place for the nurses. I was pretty out of it but I did hear them discussing whether or not I was supposed to have a Patient Controlled Pain medicine pump...to which I spoke up and told them yes, I was told I would. That was put in sometime later ....don't have a good sense of time. After what seemed like an eternity of waiting for the 7 minutes pushing the button and konking back out only to wait for the green light again...I finally decided that my breathing difficulty was due to the fact that i was still laying flat on my back. I asked the nurse if my head could be elevated a little, she told me no, I wasn't supposed to bend. I accepted that until it was unbearable and asked two more times only to be told no. I wasn't sure the nazi nurses were actually looking after my best interest since they seemed to be franicked....so I asked for my mom to come back there. They said no...and continued on their hysterical workings tending to the other patients. I heard them several times discussing my elevated blood pressure, high respirations, etc....I wanted so badly to scream..."IF YOU WOULD ELEVATE MY HEAD SLIGHTLY I BET I WOULD BREATH BETTER". I ended up asking three more times for my mother to come back there since they weren't sure how long it would be before I got a room. (This surgery was prescheduled...how could they not know I needed a room) I also asked three or so more times to PLEASE let me elevate my head! No, no no...I'm telling you they were nazis!
On the other side...my husband and mother were getting nervous too. They've heard and witnessed too many people getting hurt in the hospital because they were given incorrect mediciation or left alone. My dad's uncle died from a bee sting because the hospital gave him double the antidote..epinephrin, I think. So...mom in her frenzy @ 7pm calls my uncle Bobby who's a head nurse for something somewhere within the hospital. He told her he'd do what he could. Luckily, by 7:30 I had a "room" they just had to clean it. Wow...thanks Uncle Bobby...should have called you earlier. Note to self,,,,the really bitchy high maintenance pain med freak on the table next to me came in after me and moved out before me....but the morphine made me so tired I could hardly mumble a coherent sentence, much lest raise hell about getting a room.
Once I got to my room, the nursing staff was wonderful..I guess the staff in recovery figures you won't remember them, (which I don't...or I'd complain to the hospital) I had an excellent male CNA who was a big teddy bear and could just lay me back into bed without having to strain my own muscles! It was heavenly!
I had some continued issues with BP...at one point it was 200something over like 150...continued issues with low grade fever, i had my swallow study the next morning and everything looked ok..so they started liquids in tiny little 1 oz cups. Those things have become by best friend to make sure I don't gulp my liquids or foods...i use them for everything! I had to walk my laps in the hallway, which got easier each time, and actually helped to move around some of that gas.
Dr Long got on me Wednesday morning....in a very professional way....that I needed to remember this was a significant surgery, the pain was going to be substantial, I had to walk at least 4 times that day, I had to use the spirometer (they thought I smoked my lung capacity was so pathetic) every 15 minutes, and I needed to drink the fluids. Luckily, they also made the decision (I think at the nurses encouragment) to remove the morphine pump...with that gone, and only the liquid oxycodine and toradol I could actually stay awake for decent intervals of time! Wednesday was a much better day, I got in 5 walks that were pretty long, made progress with the spirometer, drank fluids and ate popcicles and even showered! They let me have "full liquid" diet, which mean I got an awesome dinner tray of pudding, pureed veg. soup, applesauce, sherbet and popcicle.- sad to say, I wasn't hungry. But I was excited just to see the food and thankfully they FINALLY remembered I was allergic to chicken and didn't include chicken broth! I was expecting to stay another night because my BP and respirations were still out of wack, but about 6 pm, he came through talked to me and asked if I wanted to sleep in my own bed. Sad to say, I was hesitant to go home...the hospital seemed safer in case I had problems, but Dr. Long suspected that my BP issues might be from being there. I decided to go home and had a fairly uneventful night. It was nice to sleep in my own bed! I'm bloated - to about 7 months pregnancy size and still in a fairly decent amount of pain, but all in all, I think I'm on the mend!!
On the other side...my husband and mother were getting nervous too. They've heard and witnessed too many people getting hurt in the hospital because they were given incorrect mediciation or left alone. My dad's uncle died from a bee sting because the hospital gave him double the antidote..epinephrin, I think. So...mom in her frenzy @ 7pm calls my uncle Bobby who's a head nurse for something somewhere within the hospital. He told her he'd do what he could. Luckily, by 7:30 I had a "room" they just had to clean it. Wow...thanks Uncle Bobby...should have called you earlier. Note to self,,,,the really bitchy high maintenance pain med freak on the table next to me came in after me and moved out before me....but the morphine made me so tired I could hardly mumble a coherent sentence, much lest raise hell about getting a room.
Once I got to my room, the nursing staff was wonderful..I guess the staff in recovery figures you won't remember them, (which I don't...or I'd complain to the hospital) I had an excellent male CNA who was a big teddy bear and could just lay me back into bed without having to strain my own muscles! It was heavenly!
I had some continued issues with BP...at one point it was 200something over like 150...continued issues with low grade fever, i had my swallow study the next morning and everything looked ok..so they started liquids in tiny little 1 oz cups. Those things have become by best friend to make sure I don't gulp my liquids or foods...i use them for everything! I had to walk my laps in the hallway, which got easier each time, and actually helped to move around some of that gas.
Dr Long got on me Wednesday morning....in a very professional way....that I needed to remember this was a significant surgery, the pain was going to be substantial, I had to walk at least 4 times that day, I had to use the spirometer (they thought I smoked my lung capacity was so pathetic) every 15 minutes, and I needed to drink the fluids. Luckily, they also made the decision (I think at the nurses encouragment) to remove the morphine pump...with that gone, and only the liquid oxycodine and toradol I could actually stay awake for decent intervals of time! Wednesday was a much better day, I got in 5 walks that were pretty long, made progress with the spirometer, drank fluids and ate popcicles and even showered! They let me have "full liquid" diet, which mean I got an awesome dinner tray of pudding, pureed veg. soup, applesauce, sherbet and popcicle.- sad to say, I wasn't hungry. But I was excited just to see the food and thankfully they FINALLY remembered I was allergic to chicken and didn't include chicken broth! I was expecting to stay another night because my BP and respirations were still out of wack, but about 6 pm, he came through talked to me and asked if I wanted to sleep in my own bed. Sad to say, I was hesitant to go home...the hospital seemed safer in case I had problems, but Dr. Long suspected that my BP issues might be from being there. I decided to go home and had a fairly uneventful night. It was nice to sleep in my own bed! I'm bloated - to about 7 months pregnancy size and still in a fairly decent amount of pain, but all in all, I think I'm on the mend!!
3/31/08
Mar 31, 2008
One week 'til surgery!! I'm both excited and petrified! I will be on liquids only for 7-10 days, then begin the month of puree, then there's another stage for roughly a month before going to whole foods. Not looking forward to that, but I'm trying to plan ahead. I made potato soup today, ran it through the blender then froze it in 1/2 cup containers. I figure that's two meals. It didn't actually taste that bad, and I'm sure after 10 days of liquids only it'll be delicious!
I also found out that Dr. Long will do a swallow study the day after surgery to make sure there are no leaks. He seems very thorough.
More later!
I also found out that Dr. Long will do a swallow study the day after surgery to make sure there are no leaks. He seems very thorough.
More later!
3/7/08
Mar 07, 2008
Well, got the call yesterday and scheduled surgery!! Woo hoo. Scheduled for April 7, 2008. I'm scared to death, but I'm also excited!! The thought of actually buying clothes in a normal person store makes me want to cry! I don't remember a time ever that I've been able to do that!
Anthem's individual point of service policy rocks! I had my initial consultation, an EGD (which showed GERD and a hiatal hernia), met with the nutritionist, and set the date. They approved it without question...I also have high blood pressure. So all in all...BMI 35.7, high blood pressure, GERD and hital hernia.
Anthem's individual point of service policy rocks! I had my initial consultation, an EGD (which showed GERD and a hiatal hernia), met with the nutritionist, and set the date. They approved it without question...I also have high blood pressure. So all in all...BMI 35.7, high blood pressure, GERD and hital hernia.
